


Closure

by FeralPrince56



Series: P5R One-Shots [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Like... all the spoilers, M/M, One Shot, Spoilers for the Royal, shuake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 18:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21324997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralPrince56/pseuds/FeralPrince56
Summary: It's the last day, and there's only one person Ren wants to talk to.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: P5R One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552291
Comments: 11
Kudos: 152





	Closure

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy okay when I said there's spoilers, I meant it. Seriously unless you know what happens in the end game this will both not make sense and also spoil a lot.
> 
> Anyway enjoy.

Morgana was already sleeping at the end of his bed so Ren knew he couldn’t do this in his room, not to mention he didn’t need the cat overhearing his conversation. He slowly and gently moves Morgana off his legs, who huffs through his sleep but never wakes up. He reaches to the windowsill for his phone, takes it, then walks downstairs into Leblanc and types up a quick, if not stereotypical, text.

> '**U up**?'

His phone pings almost immediately after he sends his text.

> ‘**Yes**’

Another ping.

> ‘**Call me?**’

Ren leaves his messaging app and quickly gets to his contacts, pressing the very first number on there, “I can’t sleep,” Ren admits, no longer wanting to play around with being coy and acting like he needed to tip toe around him, “Is this what making the right choice is supposed to feel like?”

He hears some shuffling on the other side, most likely Akechi shifting around on his bed to get ready for the kind of conversation this was going to be, “It is what it is. I asked you to be selfish and I meant it. I can’t have you faltering now, and if that’s what you’re feeling… do you need me to come over and remind you?”

“You coming over might not be the best idea,” Ren admits, thinking back to Morgana sleeping on his bed. If he’s going to see Akechi one last time before tomorrow, it’s not going to be something he wants Morgana to be present for. He can’t look weak in front of his teammate, not now of all times, “You, um… you still have an address, right? Sorry, that might be a stupid question.”

“It’s not,” Akechi reassures him in a calm voice, “I suppose it’s Maruki’s doing that I haven’t been kicked out of my apartment and that none of Shido’s goons have come after me, so I wouldn’t worry about coming over… however, the trains have stopped running by now.”

“You offered to come over,” Ren counters, “You weren’t going to walk here, were you?”

“I have a bike, Amamiya,” Akechi replies in a tired voice, “As far as I’m aware, you rely on public transport to move around the city. But… you don’t want me coming over because Morgana is there, and you don’t want him overhearing our conversation.”

“I can get a taxi?” Ren offers, and there’s a short pause before Akechi answers again.

“I can try and see if any of my old connections will still work. I’ll text you the answer. See you soon,” Akechi says and hangs up shortly after, but Ren keeps the phone against his ear longer than necessary.

The last night he was going to spend with Akechi…

They’d be alright, won’t they?

Ren would wake up the day after the treasure was stolen only to hear on the news about the famous Detective Prince being held up in the police’s custody.

Right.

A couple of minutes later his phone buzzes again and Ren unlocks his phone at the speed of light,

> ‘**Seems my connections still have meaning in this reality**.’
> 
> ‘**Someone will be picking you up in ten minutes.**’

Ten minutes was a long time, considering all he really had to do was grab his jacket, put on his shoes and he’d be ready to go. If he was getting picked up, he didn’t even see the reason for changing out of his pyjamas. He doubts he’ll be able to sleep at all and he’d be going straight from Akechi’s apartment to Maruki’s Palace to… well, god knows where he’ll be by the end of this.

In the end he decides to pack some clothes into his bag for tomorrow, but even that just takes a couple of minutes, leaving him with eight more to wait.

He looks through Sojiro’s kitchenette and retrieves the thermos he’d been bringing with him to the Metaverse each time he made coffee. He blindly searches for the beans to make Akechi’s favourite blend, fairly certain he can make it even in the dark. He roasts the beans and once he’s finished, he pours the hot, bitter liquid into the thermos and closes it.

One minute left.

He leaves the café and walks out into the cold darkness, locking the door behind him with the keys Sojiro gave him almost a year ago. Even if he doesn’t show up in the morning, Sojiro and Morgana will probably figure out where he went. Not exactly hard to figure out now.

Not like it'll matter.

He walks out of the alleyway and finds a single black car parked on the street, a man in a suit waiting inside, presumably for him. The man opens up the window and looks over to Ren, “Akechi’s friend?” Ren simply nods, “Alright, get in.”

Ren opens the back door of the car and gets out of the cold. The car is already heated up, so he unbuttons his coat but doesn’t take it off. He places the bag with the thermos and clothes down next to him, then takes his phone out of his pocket to text Akechi.

> ‘**I’m on my way.**’

His phone buzzes back immediately,

> ‘**I’ll see you shortly then.**’

The ride there is completely quiet since the man driving him won’t say a word and Ren is completely fine with that. It’s not some random stranger he needs to talk to right now, it’s Akechi. All he needs is to see him one more time, get one more chance to talk things out, even if any promises of seeing each other again from then on would be completely empty.

It’s the first time he’d even be at Akechi’s place, he wonders what it would be like. Clean and tidy like the Detective Prince? Not a particle of dust anywhere to be seen? Or the opposite? Clothes thrown on the ground, sink full of dirty dishes made by a man who knows it won’t make a difference anymore? Maybe he has a picture or two of his mother there, maybe a cactus since they don’t take too much effort to keep alive. Or maybe it’s completely bare- just a bed, closet, desk, some sort of kitchenette only with the minimum requirement met for what he needs to survive.

His curiosity comes to an end when the car stops outside of an apartment block in Kichijoji, and the car doors unlock, “Last stop,” the driver announces and Ren picks his things up from the seat next to him. He leaves the car and looks down at his phone so he can text Akechi and let the other know he’s here.

But he doesn’t need to, because Akechi is already opening the door of his apartment and letting him in, still wearing the same clothes he was yesterday.

So he didn’t even try to go to sleep, huh?

“Come in,” Akechi says without faking a smile like Ren would’ve expected of him two months ago. No, now he’s just tired and completely honest. Why put up a façade when your actions won’t have consequences for much longer, right?

Ren follows him inside silently, only the sounds of their shoes making noise in the corridor while they make their way over to the elevator, then over to Akechi’s apartment.

He opens the door, takes off his shoes, then takes a seat on his couch, Ren following him through the door but standing there with little idea of what to do with himself, “Sit anywhere you’d like,” Akechi tells him, so naturally Ren takes off his shoes and sits down beside him, resulting in them both staring at a reflection of themselves in the TV in front of them.

His apartment… is surprisingly normal, and Ren doesn’t know why that both makes sense and doesn’t. Akechi was… well, he was Goro Akechi. Former Detective Prince who fooled the whole country with his charm, who stared death in the face twice and didn’t falter. Goro Akechi, who was used and abused by everyone around him and still refused to play by their rules.

Goro Akechi just had a normal apartment. White walls, old newspaper on the table, a couple of dishes in the sink from today's dinner, smell of air freshener looming around.

All of this normality and Ren was still somehow surprised.

Akechi always did keep him intrigued.

“You brought an overnight bag,” Akechi points out after a while, and points to the bag at Ren’s feet.

Oh right, he almost forgot.

Ren reaches down and opens it, pulling out the thermos he made especially for him, “It’s your favourite blend. Sojiro couldn’t make it but I hope my skills are enough.”

“After so many hours under his apprenticeship, I’m certain you must have learned something from Sakura-san,” Akechi says, reaching for the thermos and taking it. He takes off the top, opens it and pours himself some coffee into the cup. He closes his eyes as he drinks the coffee, taking in all the taste and smell that it produced, not particularly bothered by how hot it was. He sets it back down, almost empty by now, “You knew I had trouble sleeping, and you brought me caffeine?”

He really didn’t think that one through, did he?

“I’m joking,” Akechi quickly says before Ren gets the wrong idea, “I doubt this’ll alter anything with regards to sleep… I appreciate the sentiment, however, thank you,” he picks it back up and takes another sip, “It’s perfect.”

“You’ve never said that about my coffee before,” Ren points out.

“I’ve never had to deal with the consequences of complimenting your skills as a barista before,” Akechi corrects him in that, “You haven’t come here because you changed your mind, have you?” Akechi says, finally getting to what was on his mind, “I had hoped you were more firm in your decision making.”

“I am,” Ren says, looking back to their reflections from Akechi’s coffee cup, “Just because I chose to live in a world without you doesn’t mean I want to spend what little time I have left in this one alone.”

Akechi hums to himself, apparently unsure of what to say to that and instead just pours himself more coffee from the thermos. He takes a few sips before speaking, “I thought it might be something like that. Why do you think I avoided speaking with you for the past month?”

“You didn’t want to get attached?” Ren guesses.

“I didn’t want _you_ to get attached,” Akechi corrects him again, “What point was there in us going to cafes or jazz bars or to play billiards if in the end it didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t real, and you and I could never truly fulfill our promises?”

“You didn’t want to make the choice any harder than it had to be,” Ren concludes and Akechi nods, “But… you’re wrong,” he turns around and faces the real Akechi instead of trying to speak to his reflection, “After everything we went through, did you really think simply staying away from me was going to make that any easier? I… I needed you.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better now,” Akechi scoffs and sets down his cup.

“Maybe I am, but it doesn’t make what I’m saying any less true. I want you to be there… I want to be at your graduation, I want to enjoy the holidays with you, I want to keep playing chess when I should be doing my homework. I want to wake up knowing that you’re just a text away…” Ren keeps insisting, “But I can’t… and since I can’t, the best I can do is make sure you understand how much you’re wanted and how much I need you.”

Akechi turns his head too, looking Ren in the eyes to find anything resembling deceit, and to his surprise, reading Ren’s honesty comes easy to him. It’s the first time he’s so sure he knows what’s on Ren’s mind, “You’re delusional.”

“But you’re not throwing me out,” Ren smirks, “So I have to be right about at least something.”

“Hm,” Akechi hums again and looks down at his coffee cup, “Bold of you to assume I don’t keep around for the copious amount of coffee you provide me with.”

“I’m blushing,” Ren returns with a smile, his worries temporarily put to the back of his mind with the games he plays with Akechi.

Damn Maruki.

Damn him to hell for creating his perfect reality.

Damn him for creating everything Ren wanted.


End file.
